


Cure

by TheDelta42



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bad substitute teacher, Good Parents Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Hawkmoth gives up, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Multi, Tom Dupain Death, Tom has cancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26856289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDelta42/pseuds/TheDelta42
Summary: Marinette will do anything to save her father’s life, even if it meant selling her soul down the river to do it.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 8
Kudos: 155





	Cure

**_ Cure _ **

In hindsight, it was obvious. How Marinette looked as if she had gotten no sleep, how nervous she became, constantly checking her phone every five minutes. Whenever asked she would freeze and look terrified, when Alya asked Ms. Bustier about Marinette’s current situation, the teacher would shake her head and say, “Marinette will speak to you about it when she is ready.”

It should’ve become obvious, when Lila said she met a doctor who found the cure to cancer. Everyone remembered how alert Marinette became.

“Really?” She said, “Do you have his contact details or if he’s willing to make visits to potential patients?”

At first Alya thought Marinette was trying to poke holes in Lila’s story, until Lila laughed and said that the doctor is question had died a year or so beforehand. Marinette’s eyes went dim again.

“He didn’t even publish his findings?” She had asked, “Not even anonymously?”

When Lila responded in the negative, Marinette only responded with and quiet, “Oh.”, and looked down at her sketch book. Marinette went home at lunch that day, the class would find that whenever Marinette was asked about, mentioned or even discussed, the teachers would have a sad look to them, as if they knew something the class didn’t.

Which was true. They did know something, and the Class wanted to know what it was. The following day Alya, along with Rose and Mylene, cornered Marinette and tried to make her spill, Alya asking Marinette and Rose and Mylene gently trying to convince her to tell them.

They had never seen Ms. Mendeleiev look so angry. Marinette was absent for the rest of the day, which only made the class curiouser than before.

Then the straw that broke the camel’s back arrived and Cure came walking out. When Cure first appeared in front of them, no one recognised her, her eyes were green, hair was red and her skin a pale blue. She was quiet, before her gaze landed on Lila and said, terrifyingly calm, “Doctor. Name. Now.”

Then it clicked into place.

“Marinette?” Rose asked, her voice quivering slightly.

“Marinette’s not home right now.” Said Cure, “Feel free to leave a message.”

Kim had gotten between Cure and Lila.

“Marinette,” Said Kim, trying to increase the distance between the Akuma and their target, “you need to step back, calm down.”

“Tells us what’s wrong.” Said Nino, making the mistake of touching Cure’s shoulder. Cure grabbed Nino by the throat and threw him across his and Adrien’s desk, “I’ll take that as a no.”

Alya was torn between helping Nino, recording the Akuma and getting Lila away from Cure.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Said Cure, her tone like ice, “I just need the name of that doctor and then everything will be fine.”

“Girl, I don’t know what Adrien has done but-” Alya was cut off by Cure’s chilling laugh.

“You think that spineless worm has something to do with it?” Said Cure, Ivan slowly coming up from behind to grab her, “He couldn’t be more far away from this situation as Pluto from the sun.”

Ivan went to grab Cure, who reached back, grabbed his index finger, smiled and then broke his hand.

“Don’t kill the messenger or the messenger will kill you.” Said Cure, starting to advance on Kim and Lila, “Now, I just need that name and then I’ll be off.”

“Lila, what’s his name?” Kim whispered, Lila panicking as the Akuma got closer.

“It’s, uhmmm, errr, his name is, errr,” Lila stuttered, before her nerve broke, “He doesn’t have one! Made it all up.”

Cure stopped, “I am going to assume that was a joke, otherwise my response isn’t going to be very nice.”

Lila continued to scamper away, as rage began to form on Cure’s face, “I lied. I only said it to get attention, I never met a doctor who could cure cancer, the only doctor that I’ve met is my dentist.”

Cure stomped forwards, knocking Max and Alix out of the way, before reaching out and grabbing Lila by the throat and holding her against the wall, “You mean to tell me that any hope that I had was for nothing, that I have to sit by and watch as one of my loved ones wastes away and do nothing?”

That line made everyone pause, before a window smashed and Chat Noir came tumbling in.

“If I can’t cure it, then perhaps I can transfer it.” Growled Cure, Hawkmoth started talking to her, before the mask went from purple/pink to blood red.

“Don’t distract me.” Cure growled, as everyone’s stomache dropped.

Hawkmoth had created an Akuma that he couldn’t control.

Chat rushed forwards; his baton raised to hit Cure in the back of the head. Cure grabbed the baton mid-swing and dropped Lila.

“Hold that thought, while I neuter a certain stray.” Cure growled, before literally wiping the floor with Chat. Chat hit the wall for the fourth or fifth time, before Ms. Bustier press her phone against Cure’s ear.

Cure’s expression went from Rage to loss, and in a small, broken voice, she said “Papa?”

No one knew what was said, but Cure collapsed to her knees, allowing Chat to grab the akumatized object, her hair tie, and break it, before attempting to catch the Akuma. Cure reverted back to Marinette and Chat altered his priorities.

“Marinette,” Said the hero, kneeling down in front of her, his tone gentle, “What’s wrong?”

Marinette looked as if she was about to break, “My Papa,” She said, “He’s got cancer, we found out yesterday that it’s terminal.”

Then everything broke, from how they had been trying Chemotherapy, to Marinette hearing about said ‘cure’ from Lila and, for once, wanted to believe that she was telling the truth. At the end it if, Marinette could barely talk. Chat gent picked her up and said to Ms. Bustier, “I’m taking her home, I’ll be back shortly.” Before vanishing out the window.

A few minutes later Chat returned and stalked up to Lila, and said in a cold voice, “We’ve asked you before to stop lying, because we were worried about the affect it would have on you. We never considered what those lies could do to others,” Said Chat, eyes hard and tone cold and sharp, “So, now I’m telling you, Lila, stop lying or the next time you’re targeted by and Akuma, we may just let it slide. Understand?”

Lila nodded fearfully, Chat turned around and said, “I suggest you check her other claims as well.”

Alya looked up from Max’s laptop and said, “Already on it.”

Chat nodded and left, Alya looked at her phone as it sat in the charging dock. She had placed it there to record the Akuma attack. Alya’s stomache dropped, when she realised that the entire attack was live streaming. Everything Marinette was going through was now on her blog.

“SHIT!”

/*/

Adrien appeared in school the next day, his expression sombre. The members of the class that were hurt in the Akuma attack had casts, bandages and braces to help them heal.

“I still think Marinette was holding back.” Said Nino, finding it difficult to look around using a neck brace.

Alix had a bandage/cast over her nose, from when she had broken it after Cure knocked her out.

“I’m inclined to disagree.” She said, her voice stuffy.

Kim laughed at the sound, making Alix whirl around at him and say, in her stuffy voice, “Laugh one more time and I will castrate you.”

Max looked at the two, before muttering about variables and two idiots.

“It is true?” Came a calm, boarder-line cold voice.

Everyone jumped when Kagami spoke. Adrien frowned, before retorting, “No, it was one massive role play, and everyone is really dedicated to it.”

Kagami fixed Adrien with a scowl that, if he had cared, would’ve made Adrien wince, “Is your ego hurt because She called you a spineless worm?”

Adrien scowled, “No, I’m upset because one of my friends is going through something that none of us can help her with, because we don’t know what it’s like.”

“But, yes, he is upset Dupain-Cheng called him a spineless worm.” Said Chloe, causing Adrien to look insulted.

“I have some knowledge in that area, I’m not sure if it will help,” Said Kagami, “but I’m willing to do what I can.”

It was at that moment; muffled shouting could be heard from Damocles’ office.

“Just how long have they been in there?” Sabrina asked, as the class slowly gathered around.

“An hour, at least.” Said Max, looking up from his laptop, his black eye in full view, “Can’t say for certain, but it’s not going to end anytime soon.”

“Yeah, from what I heard, Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Prince Ali and a few others are actually considering legal action against Lila and, possibly, the school.” Said Juleka, folding her arms.

Moments later, a wave of Ladybug swept over the city. Alix calmly removed her gauze, before she flung it, bloody side first, at Kim, who let out a high-pitched scream and ducked out of the way, allowing it to hit Max. Max only sighed and went back to work.

Ivan was flexing his newly repaired hand, when a shuffle at the end of the hall caught his attention. The rest of the class followed his gaze and spotted Marinette standing by the door. Marinette, almost timidly, walked up to the group, her eyes on the floor, “I-I’m sorry about yesterday.” Said Marinette, not looking at them.

Adrien was the first to move. Adrien held onto Marinette, almost terrified she would break.

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Said Adrien, “you’re in a situation that none of us could ever understand, a situation that literally has no positives.”

Marinette shuddered, before her composure broke and she started crying. For once, everything looked to be going up.

/*/

It had been four months since the ‘Cure’ incident occurred.

They had a substitute today, since Ms. Bustier was unwell. The sub looked down his nose at every member of the class and was incredibly authoritarian with the seats. For some reason, he thought it would be a good idea to sit Chloe next to Lila. The entire lesson, the two were sparking off each other and disrupting the class.

“Move your foot away from my bag.” Snapped Chloe, pushing Lila to the other end of the desk.

“Then don’t put it by my chair.” Retorted Lila, as the sub sneered at the sight.

He didn’t seem to like the class very much, often just referring to them as the Akuma’s they were. Kim had already been sent to Damocles for ‘speaking out of turn’ to the sub. He opened his mouth to scold them.

Then Marinette’s phone went off. Everyone went silent and Marinette went still.

“Ms. Cure,” Sneered the sub, a sick smirk on his face, “I believe you have something to share.”

Marinette shook slightly, as the sub walked up to her and held out his hand. Marinette reached into her pocket and produced her phone, which the sub snatched from her hand.

The sub pressed the answer button, Sabine Cheng’s voice coming from the phone.

“M-marinette?” Said Sabine, her voice thick, “I’ve just gotten a phone call from the hospital.”

Marinette’s insides turned to ice as dread filled her.

“Y-your father died earlier this morning.” Said Sabine, before the sub pressed the end call button and threw the phone out the window.

Marinette was letting out small gasps as she cried. The sub sneered and looked down at her.

“Stop crying, you pathetic little girl.” He snarled, as Marinette only started to cry harder.

“Her dad has just died.” Snapped Rose, “Have some respect.”

The sub whirled round and snarled at Rose, “I don’t recall asking some dyke for their opinion.”

The sub hit her on the back of the head.

“WHEN I TELL YOU TO DO SOMETHING, I EXPECT YOU TO DO IT!” Roared the sub, as Marinette’s head hit the desk.

Adrien jumped out of his seat, grabbed the sub by the shoulder, and punched him in the teeth several times, before the sub was on the ground with Adrien beating the living snot out of him.

Alya gently grabbed Marinette and had Rose and Juleka take her outside, before she lifted her phone to record the beat down.

An hour later the police arrived at the school, along with the parent of the students in the class. Adrien didn’t at all guilty as his father glared down at him.

“I suppose you have an explanation for this.” Said Gabriel, subtly keeping the bloody and beaten sub in his peripheral vison. He didn’t trust the man.

“He kept referring to my friends Akumas, he bullied the entire class, broke their personal property and, when Marinette heard that her father died, told her to stop crying, called her a pathetic little girl, before hitting her and shouting.” Said Adrien, his arms folded.

“That’s not true,” Lied the sub, “he just attacked me for no reason.”

Alya stalked up to Roger and held out her phone, with a video that was at least fifteen minutes long and pressed play.

And the fall out was glorious, as everything Adrien sad was confirmed to be true. Roger sighed, before turning to Adrien.

“Since you were acting in self-defence,” Said the policeman, “You won’t be charged. However, as he is a walking bruise, you can either apologise for making that way or you can do community service.”

Adrien’s face scrunched up, before saying, “Community service.”

Roger nodded, “Keep Marinette company, I think she’s going to need it.”

Roger then turned to the sub, “As for you,” He glared, “I’m going to investigate all of your previous posts, I doubt what you did here was an isolated incident.”

The sub was placed into a police car and taken to the hospital to get patched up before he was taken to the police station.

Gabriel placed his hand on Adrien’s shoulder, making the boy look up at him, “You can consider your schedule cleared for the following week. It would be unfortunate for her if you were to leave midway through you ‘community service’.” The amused glint in Gabriel’s eye told Adrien what he really meant.

“I-I’m just going to keep her company.” Said Adrien, walking off.

Everything was silent, until Alya said “20 Euros that this is what gets them together.”

“50 that they’re already together.” Said Alix, before Kim said “60 that they get together at the end of the week.”

“200 that they continue to pussy foot around each other for the next three months.”

Everyone went silent as they stared at Gabriel, not expecting him to say that. There was a snapping sound as Nathalie’s pencil broke.

“Sir, I don’t think betting 200 Euros on a possible relationship Adrien may or may not have is for the best.” Said Nathalie.

“Fair point.” Said Gabriel before Nathalie then said, “300 that they get together at the end of the school year.”

Gabriel gave Nathalie an unimpressed look. Nathalie looked defiant, before getting back into the car.

“Sir, I suggest you get in, you have a meeting in an hour and a half.” Gabriel scowled, before getting into the car.

It wasn’t until the door close and Nathalie start laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Gabriel scowled, as Nathalie started gasping for air.

“You’re-you’re afraid of her!” Nathalie laughed, “All because she gave you a headache.”

Gabriel was glad that he ensured that all of the cars were soundproof.

“That’s not the only reason.” Said Gabriel, his arm folding, “Given her absence the day Cure appeared, I believe Ms. Dupain-Cheng could be Ladybug.”

Nathalie sobered, “And talking to her runs the risk of her identifying you as Hawkmoth or telling he you know she’s Ladybug.”

Gabriel nodded, he didn’t want to run the risk of Akumatizing her again, since Cure was able to reverse his own mental stress to make her obey back onto him. He had already viewed pictures of Ladybug and Ms. Dupain-Cheng side by side and had Nathalie edit them to see if there was any resemblance. Gabriel spent most of his time kicking himself, as she literally put on a onesie and a mask.

He asked Nooroo about how basic her suit was compared to the others and Nooroo responded with, “I don’t think she wanted to be a hero.”, which was understandable, since before she got her miraculous, she was shown to be a loner. Gabriel hoped the best for the girl, he knew what it was like to lose a family member at a tender age.

Later that day the Substitute was Akumatized, with Mayura appearing before the two heroes and telling them to ‘go wild’, before vanishing. Hawkmoth found it incredibly satisfying to see Ladybug kick the teacher in the face.

A couple of weeks later was Tom’s funeral. Marinette was supposed to give a eulogy for the baker, but every time she tried to speak, her throat grew tight. As she was guided back to her seat, her composure broke.

A week later a video appeared on the Ladyblog, anonymously published. The video contained Ladybug and Chat Noir having a fight.

**_“Please, I only need it for a second,” Ladybug pleaded, “you won’t even notice that it’s gone.”_ **

**_“You told me that making a wish using the Miraculous would come at a price,” Argued Chat, his arms crossed, “‘To use the Ladybug earrings and Chat Noir ring would make the wish of the one wielding them come true, but something of equal measure would be lost in the process’ were your words, I believe.”_ **

**_“Please,” Ladybug begged, “I’ll do anything, I just want my Papa back.”_ **

**_“And you’d be willing to lose your mother? Your Uncle? Your Grandmother?” Chat questioned, “Because you told me that to bring someone back from the dead, someone else would have to take their place.”_ **

**_Ladybug was silent, “I-I j-just want him back.”_ **

**_Chat walked over and held her as she broke down_**.

The video ended.

Alya could only stare at the screen. It all added up far too well, Ladybug lost her father in the same time frame as Marinette, had a near if not identical reaction to it as Marinette. Now and Alya thought about it, Ladybug never arrived to fight Cure and Chat Noir never told her about the Akuma. At the time, Alya had dismissed it, believing that Ladybug had seen the live stream of Cure before Alya took it down, but Alya thought back to every Akuma, every time they were trapped somewhere, and Ladybug just appeared out of nowhere.

Alya’s phone went off, Nino appeared as the caller id. Alya hit answer.

“I just saw the video.” Said Nino, “Any idea who sent it?”

“I don’t know,” Said Alya, “it would’ve to have been someone who is able to get around undetected, if they were able to sneak up on Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“You going to keep the video up?” Nino asked, the question settling in Alya’s mind.

“No,” Said Alya, “the only reason it got posted in the first place was because it automatically went into the publishing queue. If I’d seen it before hand, I wouldn’t’ve posted it. We don’t need Hawkmoth or Mayura to know that Ladybug is emotionally compromised.”

Nino was silent, before Alya heard a couple of mouse clicks.

“I suggest you look at the forums, Alya,” Nino’s tone was grim, “I don’t think you’re going to like what they’re saying.”

Alya went to the first forum she could think of and found it full of either trolls mocking Ladybug for crying and speculation that Ladybug is Marinette. Alya was livid that they had taken copies of the videos and used them justify their points. Alya scowled, as she sent a copyright strike to all the users using the videos from her blog.

“Just how many of the forums are like this?” Alya asked, look at the long list she had in her favourites bar.

“I’d say at least half.” Said Nino, “There’s one dedicated to Chat Noir that’s mentioned it, but they’re mostly talking about how they’d use said ‘wish’ and others are responding about how the downside make affect them.”

Nino was silent, “Most are saying that they’d end world hunger or make world peace. Some of the top responses are saying that half the world would die out or a war might break out.” Nino snorted, “One put they’d give Ladybug a better costume. The top response is Ladybug smashing through the wall as the Kool-aid guy.”

Alya’s phone went off with a notification, it was Adrien saying, _‘Take the video down now.’_

Alya rolled her eyes, quietly grumbling about how Nathalie won the bet. Alya waited for Nino to finished before responding to Adrien. The Ladyblog dinged as it received a message from another anonymous user, much to Alya’s displeasure.

The message contained and Address and a note that said for only Ladybug and Chat Noir. Alya frowned.

“Nino, I’m going to have to call you back.” Said Alya, before she hung up.

Alya grimaced as she copied the message into a text and sent it to Marinette with the accompanying _‘I know this might be a bad time, but if you’re able to, can you pass this message onto Ladybug and/or Chat Noir?’_. Alya hit send.

/*/

Ladybug and Chat landed on the roof. Ladybug frowned, before spotting two boxes. Two Miraculous boxes.

“Do you think it’s a trap?” Chat asked, looking around.

“If it is, it’s a bad one.” Said Ladybug, picking up one box and gently opening it.

Ladybug gasped and almost dropped the box.

“M’Lady?” Chat asked, walking over to her, “What is it?”

Ladybug handed the box over, showing Chat the Butterfly Miraculous. Ladybug then closed the box and attached it to her hip, before she reached out and opened the other box, which contained the Peacock Miraculous.

“Really?” Chat said, looking at the two Miraculous, “After everything, they just give up?”

Ladybug was silent, before looking at Chat, “They saw the video.”

Chat frowned, before he thought on it, “They found out the cost and didn’t want to take the chance.”

Both were silent.

“It doesn’t add up.” Said Ladybug, “Why give up now? They could’ve kept going, they could’ve won with the state I’m in.”

Chat frowned, he had put two and two together shortly after Cure, he told Ladybug he knew and told her who he was. Not the kind of reveal he had been hoping for, but his lady needed him, she needed everyone.

“Unless they saw your reaction to losing someone and they realised that they know how it feels to lose someone they love and don’t want to lose someone else.” Said Chat, his eyes narrowing, “I think I know who they were.”

“You’ve been saying that ever since Cure,” Said Ladybug, “ever since your dad seemed terrified of me.”

Chat was silent, nothing had been the same since the reveal.

Ladybug had started to reciprocate his feelings, and, at her request, they’d been keeping it as down low as possible. She seemed fine, despite being understandably heart broken, when her father died, Chat presumed that seeing the coffin as it was lowered into the ground was the fact that her father was dead was hammered home and had been inconsolable ever since.

Until two days ago, when the argument in that video occurred.

“We need to get the back to Fu.” Said Ladybug, jerking Chat out of his musings.

“Do you think he’ll let us keep ours?” Chat asked, making Ladybug pause.

“I don’t know.” Ladybug confessed, before she swung off the roof, with Chat following shortly after.

/*/

Fu immediately put the Butterfly back into the Miracle box, before placing the Peacock on the table and examined it.

“It seems to have been damaged by another Miraculous.” Fu murmured, as Ladybug and Chat stood there, awkwardly.

“If I didn’t know any better,” Muttered Fu, carefully examining it, “I’d say this was the work of the Jackal Miraculous.”

Fu then looked at Ladybug and Chat, “I’m going to need the Ring and Earrings back for a couple of days, they will be returned to you, and you might gain some new powers and abilities.”

Marinette slowly took the earrings off and handed them to Fu. Adrien hesitated when handing the ring back.

“Kid, at most, I’m only going to be gone two days,” Said Plagg, “and besides, when you get me back, you might be able to use Darkstorm.”

Fu then sent Plagg back into the ring, “I’ll explain that in due time.”

Adrien and Marinette quietly walked out of the parlour.

“You know,” Said Adrien, his arm going around Marinette’s shoulders, “I think we can finally relax, for once.”

As the two walked away, neither noticed a being that was dressed like an Egyptian God looking down at them.

‘So,’ Thought the being, looking at the Parlour, ‘This is where the Guardian is.’


End file.
